Davidson Defeats Longwood in Big South Semifinals

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Erin Doherty scored three of her five schools in the second half to lead No. 2 Davidson to a 12-9 victory over No. 3 Longwood in the semifinals of the Big South championship on Friday at Vert Stadium on the campus of High Point University.

The Wildcats (12-6) advance to Sunday's championship game and will play No. 1 seed High Point in a rematch of last year's title contest for the Big South's automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship. Sunday's game will air live on ESPN3 at 2:00 pm.

The first half saw four ties and five lead changes. After the first 4:47 was scoreless, the teams combined for four goals the next 2:56. Longwood opened the scoring on Sarah Butler's unassisted goal. Davidson then tallied three unanswered scores with two from Doherty and one from Ann Fucigna for a 3-1 lead at 22:41. Longwood responded with three goals to move back ahead at 4-3, as Katie McHugh bounced her attempt passed Katy Boyle to give the Lancers their second lead of the night at the 17:29 mark.

Davidson tied it a third time on Nicole Pettiglio's unassisted goal at 14:15, and Fucigna put the Wildcats ahead 5-4 at 12:35. McHugh tied it again with her second goal of the period, but Fucigna notched her hat trick at 4:24 for the eventual 6-5 halftime lead.

The teams exchanged goals the first 10 minutes of the second half, with Davidson clinging to an 8-7 lead at 19:33. Butler tied the game for a fifth time on her cutter through the middle at 17:13. That would be as close as the Lancers would get, as the Wildcats reeled off four straight goals to take its largest lead of the night at 12-8 with 6:15 remaining. Kacey Norwood's unassisted goal for Longwood with 5:44 left proved to be the final margin.

Fucigna finished behind Doherty on the scoring chart with four goals, while Emily Cooke recorded three assists. Boyle made four saves in net in recording the victory. Norwood led Longwood with three goals and four points, while Mary Barondess and McHugh finished with two each. Lauren Prasnicki had a team-high two assists for the Lancers. Christian Acker made five saves in the losing effort.

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HIGH POINT, N.C. - The senior duo of Erin Doherty and Ann Fucigna combined for nine goals, and both helped spark a 4-0 run that broke up a tie to send Davidson back to the Big South Championship game with a 12-9 victory over Longwood Friday night in women's lacrosse at Vert Stadium.

Davidson, which set a new school-record with its 12th victory, advances to play top-seeded High Point for the second year in a row in the championship game Sunday at 2:00 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPN3.

Tied at 8-all with 17:13 to go in the second half, Fucigna started the winning rally for Davidson (12-6) with her fourth goal of the game to break up the tie and Doherty added a pair of scores over the next 10 minutes as the Wildcats never looked back in earning the three-goal win.

Fresh off a career-high five-goal outing Wednesday in the quarterfinals, Doherty matched her output with another five-goal night to pace the offense. Fucigna followed with her four goals to give her 39 on the season.

Emily Cooke assisted on three of Doherty's goals, giving her 40 on the year, while freshman Nicole Pettiglio had two goals and an assist. Emily Rademacher added a goal and an assist.

Longwood's (9-10) Kacey Norwood had three goals, while Mary Barondess and Katie McHugh tallied two each.

The first half featured four ties and five lead changes, with the 'Cats grabbing the last lead at 6-5 before the break. Fucigna scored her third goal of the half to help Davidson to the one-goal advantage. Doherty kept her hot streak going by getting a pair of scores in the half off two assists from Cooke.